A whistle-blower, who emigrated after receiving death threats, has expressed concern that the murder of Babita Deokaran and others who acted against corruption will deter those who want to speak out.
Deokaran, the chief director of financial accounting who was at the forefront of fighting and exposing alleged personal protective equipment (PPE) tender corruption in the Gauteng Health Department, was shot dead outside her Johannesburg home last year.
Six men – Phakamani Hadebe, Zitha Radebe, Nhlangano Ndlovu, Sanele Mbhele, Siphiwe Mazibuko and Siphakanyiswa Dladla – are alleged to have opened fire on Deokaran through the window of her car. They have been arrested for the murder and are currently before the court.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said that a shockingly new culture had emerged, where people who had once been prepared to speak out about corruption, were being intimidated or threatened into silence.
“Whistle-blowers are facing extinction in this country. Babita was not protected by the state despite them knowing that she had blown the whistle on corruption involving tens of millions of rand.
“The Hawks and the police knew that powerful people would want to prevent her from speaking out and yet she was not given the protection she needed so that she could reveal to everyone what she had learned and who was responsible,” said the source.
Another high-profile murder of a whistle-blower involved the killing of Sindiso Magaqa, the ANC Youth League secretary-general, in 2017. He was shot while parking his car at his home in uMzimkhulu after attending a meeting in July of that year.
Magaqa had been vocal about alleged corruption in the uMzimkhulu Local Municipality, where he was a councillor.
The trial is ongoing and among those arrested for the murder are crime intelligence officers.
Earlier this year, the Zondo Commission released its recommendations on whistle-blower legislation and policy in the country.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in the report stated that “recent events in South Africa which will be well known to every reader make it the highest priority that a bona fide whistle-blower who reports wrongdoing should receive, as a matter of urgency, effective protection from retaliation”.
The commission recommended the establishment of criminal and civil immunity for whistle-blowers, the creation of a whistle-blowing agency for the handling of whistle-blowing on matters regarding public procurements and implementing an awards system.